^ What he said. Basically, socialism and capitalism differentiate depending on what portion of the economy is owned by the government, regardless of what KIND of government that implies. In capitalist economies, something like 80 to 90% of all production is done by private companies while in socialist economies something like 80 to 90% is done by state-run corporations. What's interesting is that, sometimes, the state-run corporations behave like capitalist (for profit) agencies anyway; Citgo, for example, is owned by the government of Venezuela, but at least in the United States they use some of the same franchising practices as, say, BP or Mobil.